250 DEPOT JOURNEYS 



could not possibly be a packet of candles. It was 

 evident from the feel that it was something of a woollen 

 nature. I laid the object down, and had recourse to the 

 familiar expedient of striking a match. Do you know 

 what it was? A dirty old pair of pants! and do you 

 want to know where I found it? Well, it was between 

 the butter and the sweetmeats. That was mixing things 

 up with a vengeance." But Lindstrom must not have 

 all the blame. In this passage everyone was running 

 backwards and forwards, early and late, and as a rule in 

 the dark. And if they knocked something down on 

 the way, I am not quite sure that they always stopped 

 to pick it up again. 



Then he had painted the ceiling of the room white. 

 How cosy it looked 'when we put our heads in that 

 evening! He had seen us a long way off on the Barrier, 

 the rascal, and now the table was laid with all manner 

 of dainties. But seal-steaks and the smell of coffee were 

 what attracted us, and it was no small quantity that 

 disappeared that evening. Home! that word has a 

 good sound, wherever it may be, at sea, on land, or on 

 -the Barrier. How comfortable we made ourselves 

 that night ! The first thing we did now was to dry all 

 our reindeer-skin clothes ; they were wet through. This 

 was not to be done in a hurry. We had to stretch the 

 garments that were to be dried on lines under the ceil- 

 ing of the room, so that we could not dry very much at 

 a time. 



